Alouettes may not be prepared for Lions

Lion Courtney Taylor gets tripped up by Edmonton Eskimos Eric Samuels in CFL action at BC Place in Vancouver, B.C. on June 28, 2014.

Photograph by: Steve Bosch
, PNG

MONTREAL -- The Montreal Alouettes, like a certain West Coast hockey team, are in transition, and nobody is quite sure what exotic animal they’re going to get until all the parts are fully assembled -- a unicorn or Push Me Pull You?

For the first decade of the 21st century, and then some, the Alouettes were a model of continuity, stability and success, much like the B.C. Lions under Wally Buono, the Canadian Football League rival Montreal will face Friday (4 p.m., TSN, Team 1040 Radio) at Percival Molson Stadium.

A storied franchise in the Jim Popp/Anthony Calvillo/Marc Trestman era, a team possessed of a loyal fan base and a jewel of a ballpark, the Alouettes uncharacteristically have made a number of missteps in recent times.

They’re not in a death spiral by any means, and it would be unfair to suggest the Larks have become bird-brained. Yet the unfortunate hiring of Dan Hawkins last year (he lasted just five games) as head coach was the first hint the Alouettes are losing their lustre as the league’s crown jewel.

Hawkins was no Trestman, it became abundantly clear. But neither is Tom Higgins, the man hired to replace interim coach Jim Popp, the GM who wanted the “interim” tag removed from his coaching duties before he was overruled by ownership.

Higgins isn’t unfamiliar with coaching. It’s just that he hasn’t done it for a while, having spent six years in the league head office as director of officiating. He was a surprise appointment, a sentiment not only shared by the man himself but by every other candidate.

Higgins, at least, has experience.

Ryan Dinwiddie, who came on board last year as “offensive quality control coach”, an entry-level coaching position which allowed him to get his feet wet, got an unexpected bump up in responsibility last month. The Alouettes fired their offensive coordinator, Rick Worman, only days into his new job. He was the Alouettes’ third OC in the span of a year. And his dismissal only added to the perception of a deep-seated dysfunction working at cross purposes in the organization.

Dinwiddie is now in charge of the offence, though he doesn’t have the title of coordinator yet.

“No question, it (the coaching changes) has to affect the players,” Dinwiddie conceded Thursday. “This is the fourth system they’re having to learn in a span of 13 months. I kept the terminology that Rick put in as much as I could, so the guys wouldn’t have to learn new stuff. It’s like we’re still in training camp, though. I’ve only had about eight practices with the guys. We’re a work in progress, and we’re building slowly.”

Indeed, it looked as if the Alouettes were building from ground zero last Saturday in Calgary. They struggled to put up a single touchdown on the scoreboard, that only coming on the final play of a 29-8 defeat.

After quarterbacking by committee, at times, in 2013, the Alouettes have settled on former Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith as their starter. He sprayed his passes all over the ballyard in Calgary, less than 50 per cent of them connecting with the intended target.

“Some of the veteran Montreal teams they’ve had around here had the same guys on offence for five years,” Dinwiddie said. ”But all these guys are new, the offence is new, I’m new. Obviously, the light isn’t going to turn on right away. But I think we’re making progress. We’ll be better than we were last week.”

Smith knows he has to, and he’s under the added burden of being compared to the man he’s replacing, the legendary Calvillo, who announced his retirement in the offseason.

Calvillo’s field generalship defined the Alouettes from the 2000 season onward. Smith, on the other hand, is still learning the Canadian game and making rookie mistakes, though he’s approaching his 30th birthday (July 20).

Asked if the game of musical chairs in the coaching ranks has made his progress more difficult, Smith deflected the question upon himself.

“I’ve said this before, it’s up to the guys on the field to execute,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the coordinator, if you ask me. The game plan is what the game plan is. And we have to execute it.”

The Lions have an advantage in that their offensive coordinator, Khari Jones, has been one before, and he’s had a past association with the Lions’ starting quarterback, Kevin Glenn, in Hamilton.

Glenn, a 14-year veteran, knows Dinwiddie from their time together in 2007, with Winnipeg, when Glenn was the starter and Dinwiddie his backup. The latter replaced the former in the Grey Cup game that year after Glenn broke his arm.

“He’s a very intelligent guy -- one of those football smart guys,” Glenn says of Dinwiddie. “He played quarterback, so he knows a little bit of everything that goes on. He got thrown into this position before he probably wanted it, but that’s how you get your opportunities. You can’t coach experience. You just have to go through it.”

After years of certainty, with an offensive philosophy and a quarterback who meshed like clockwork, the Als may have to grope for a while before they find it again.

THREE THEMES

BLACK HOLE AT LT

Garrett Chisholm, Rico Forbes, Josh Jenkins. R.J. Dill, Jason Slowey, Nyere Aumaitre were all offensive tackle candidates at Lions’ training camp who proved to have the staying power of a mayfly. Through injury, release or unexplained disappearance, they’re all gone. It left the team in an unfortunate and desperate situation this week when starting LT Andre Ramsey suffered a fractured ankle and there was nobody on the practice roster to replace him. The Lions had to reach out to the Arena League for Ryan Cave, who will start against the Alouettes at left tackle after just two full practices. “Good luck to him,” said his counterpart, Josh Bourke. “I really feel for him. They’ll condense things a bit and probably run the ball early to let him settle in. But it’s not easy. He’s had two practices. I’ve been playing left tackle with the Alouettes for years (since 2007).”

JUDGMENT RENDERED

Alouettes’ linebacker Kyries Hebert received the maximum fine allowed by the CFL (one-half of one game cheque) Friday for knocking out Stampeders’ tailback Jon Cornish with his forearm on June 28 at McMahon Stadium. Named the league’s “hardest hitter” in a player vote two years ago, Hebert received a 25-yard penalty and disqualification from a game punctuated by chippiness. “The play I made on Cornish was between the whistles,” he explained. “He had the ball. I went at him hard. I tried to get him across the chest and knock the ball out of his hand. But, I happened to catch his helmet. I had zero intent to hit him in the head. I had zero intent to cause an injury. My biggest regret was the jawing back and forth on the sidelines. That basically reduced me to their (Stampeders’) level.”

CLEATLESS CHRIS

When defensive end Chris Wilson was released by the Lions in mid-June, he was told that some of the equipment he left behind would be forwarded to his next point of disembarkation. Montreal signed him on June 17, but Wilson is still waiting for some of his gear to arrive from the Lions, including his favourite pair of cleats. “I couldn’t bring it all when it was time to go,” he said. “It’s been almost a month and I haven’t got my stuff. They stole my cleats!” Wilson said it with a chuckle. His release was a training camp bombshell, however, though he had an inkling that something was up. After rejecting a contract extension from the Lions, he found himself demoted behind Brandon Jordan on the depth chart. “They told me, ‘Don’t worry about that.’ But that’s the first thing a player needs to worry about.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

MONTREAL

Troy Smith, Quarterback

The physical presence of former starter Anthony Calvillo has been “lurking and looming” around the Alouettes’ locker-room, according to Troy Smith. It’s the figurative spectre of Calvillo which won’t recede from view — until Smith, a former Heisman Trophy winner, establishes himself as a bona fide CFL starter. “There’s nothing wrong with being in the shadow of champion,” he said. “I’m kind of relishing the moment. And I love it.” Not a lot of love was being directed toward the former Heisman Trophy winner after the season opener. The Als’ new No. 1 sprayed his throws everywhere in a 29-8 defeat to the Stamps.

B.C.

Kevin Glenn, Quarterback

The NFL pre-season is too long. Fans think so. Players know so. By contrast, the CFL exhibition season is too short — just two games, one of which is usually just a rookie show. So don’t judge the Lions by one game, pleads quarterback Kevin Glenn, who threw four interceptions in a 27-20 defeat to the Eskimos. “Nobody’s ever won the Grey Cup in week one,” Glenn said. “And everybody is still going through the process of learning about each other. The biggest thing is just to focus on the things you can control. I can control not turning the ball over as much as I did.”

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